Leaseholders

A national organization that supports oil and gas leaseholders is furious that Pennsylvania legislators passed a bill that its members claim would allow forced pooling in the state. They are urging people to contact Gov. Tom Corbett to get a veto.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. on Friday agreed to sell an estimated 99,000 net acres in southwestern Pennsylvania, including 10 wells, to EQT Corp. for $113 million, which puts the sale price at roughly $876/acre.

Major leaseholders in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), which had evacuated personnel over the weekend as Tropical Storm Debby gained strength, were preparing to redeploy workers Monday as the storm became almost stationary over the northeastern GOM with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph.

U.S. Silica Holdings Inc. and BNSF Railway Co. are partnering to meet the needs of Eagle Ford Shale producers for sand to be used as proppant in their hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations.

In North Dakota where a quarter of the booming oil production in the Bakken Shale play is moved by rail car or truck — not pipeline — North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple Thursday urged the oil and gas industry to beef up the pipeline network in his state to keep up with rapidly growing production. Dalrymple spoke to more than 100 industry and government representatives at the state’s annual pipeline summit in Bismarck.

CenterPoint Energy Field Services LLC (CEFS) has begun assessing routing for a proposed gas gathering and processing system in the Mississippi Lime of north-central Oklahoma and south-central Kansas.

With new liquids-rich properties in pocket, Linn Energy LLC said Monday it plans to spend $880 million in capital expenditures (capex) in 2012, with more than half allocated to the unconventional Granite Wash formation in Texas.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said she is pleased that the Superior Court of Alaska has denied a motion filed by Point Thomson leaseholders ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron and ConocoPhillips for a stay that would have allowed them to retain leases while they fight the state’s earlier decision to take the leases back after the companies have failed for years to develop the North Slope field.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said she is pleased that the Superior Court of Alaska has denied a motion filed by Point Thomson leaseholders ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron and ConocoPhillips for a stay that would have allowed them to retain leases while they fight the state’s earlier decision to take the leases back after the companies have failed for years to develop the North Slope field.